Rinspeed: What Happens When You Throw All Car Design Conventions out of The Window

Boring as it may be, modern cars have to conform to a lot of regulations. Headlight positioning, crash structures, and whatnot. What’s more, every automaker tries to follow trends in design, which can lead to a lack of originality. Who told them, for example, that it was a good idea to have illuminated badges?

The only time in the world of cars when regulations don’t matter in the slightest is with concept cars. Purely meant as visions of the future or maybe the automaker’s future design language and influence, concept cars are famous for not caring about safety or design standards: massive wheels, rakish rooflines, tiny mirrors, and ergonomic nightmare interiors.

But what happens when you think even further outside the box when it comes to automotive design and engineering? And then what happens when you actually execute the result of that thinking and make it functional?

Rinspeed Happens

Rinspeed Splash. — Image Credit: Rinspeed.

Founded in the late 1970s in Switzerland by Frank Rinderknecht, Rinspeed’s usual day-to-day business was importing sunroofs and converting vehicles for handicapped drivers. However, by night, Rinspeed turned into a concept car manufacturer unlike any other. Most concept cars, no matter how wild they may be, need to follow at least some sort of rule that only exists in the minds of the design team. Rinspeed doesn’t follow any rules at all.

One of the first concept cars the company put together was known as the Aliporta, a Mk1 Golf with a body kit and gullwing doors! Flashy doors on relatively normal cars is definitely something we can expect from the future, at least if Cyberpunk 2077 is anything to go by, but this was the 1980s and the Mk1 VW Golf, just about the most normal car of them all.

This Rinspeed insanity continued well into the 1990s with the Cyan. As you can tell, it’s a Bugatti EB110 with its facial features pinched together. There was the Mono Ego, a single-seat open-wheel racer with a massive vertical grille and really wide wheels, and the E-Go Rocket, which bears more than a passing resemblance to Auto Union race cars from the 1930s. You’ve probably also noticed Rinspeed’s knack for bizarre nomenclatures.

The Insanity Goes Up

Rinspeed eXasis. — Image Credit: Lukasdesign Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0.

By the time the 2000s rolled around, Rinspeed had really turned up the insanity dial. Imagine if one of those rocking cars from playgrounds had real wheels and was a full-sized car. Wonder no more; the Rone is here to help you imagine that. You have to wonder, how does one not fall out while driving it fast?

In 2003, Rinspeed showed off one of its more recognizable concept cars, the Bedouin. As the front end clearly shows, it’s based on a 996 Porsche 911, but it has all the necessary trinkets for off-roading adventures. Big all-terrain tires, a makeshift pickup bed, a crystal shift knob, and iridescent gold paint. You know, the works.

2004 also saw the debut of one of the company’s most notable concept cars, the Splash. No prizes for guessing why it was named that: it’s an amphibious car, though not in the way we’re used to. No outboard engine or foam filled fenders, that would be too normal and ordinary. The Splash opts for a hydrofoil system instead.

Speaking of aquatic vehicles, Rinspeed pushed that concept to the extreme in 2008, with what has to be my favorite of all its concept cars: the sQuba. The Lotus Elise was chosen as the basis for this insane vehicle, and as the name might imply, it wasn’t designed to traverse over water — it’s going under the surface.

Less Imagination, More Autonomy

Rinspeed Senso — Image Credit: Rinspeed.

Sadly, by the 2010s, Rinspeed’s concept cars somewhat slowed down on all the crazy creativity and style for style’s sake. The company spent this decade envisioning what the future’s autonomous cars might look like, with stuff like the BMW i3-based Budii, the Oasis, and various pod-like concepts.

So why is Rinspeed so cool? For the same reason why so many other artists are cool: Rinspeed was never afraid to let the imagination of the man at the helm run totally wild. Almost no other big automaker ever thought to make concept cars like this, mostly because they didn’t want to be laughed at, and they didn’t want people to stop taking them seriously.

Rinspeed was in a unique position and leveraged it to show all of us just how far the ethos and the purpose of four-wheeled vehicles can be pushed. Judging by the company’s extensive and impressive CV, it can be pushed very far.